Perfect Union
by PrescitedEntity
Summary: Before the tragedy, violence, and horrific madness, there was romance, soft caresses, and happiness. The time, years ago when she and he met, and fell in love. Pre-SH2, James x Mary. Will eventually tie into and contain spoilers for SH4 and SH5.


James Sunderland sighed, leaning on the filing cabinet. He sometimes regretted not going to college; he'd had the scores, just not the desire, and now his job consisted mostly of filing and photocopying. Though it paid decently enough – more than most equivalent clerical positions – it could be stiflingly boring and repetitive. Having worked five years in the small printing company in Ashfield, he'd built up the work experience needed to make the leap to a bigger company. The business owner had even hinted at it, and was surprised to hear a firm negative response. James had never been much of a social man, and making office small talk was not something he wanted as part of his daily routine. In addition, he didn't want to move away from the area; his father, though generally normal, had odd quirks which left James worried enough to want to stay close by.

As such, he found himself in Ashfield one sunny day, staring out the window at nothing in particular. The blond man heard someone enter the office, but as he usually left it up his coworkers to receive customers, paid it no mind.

"Excuse me?" a female voice called out after a moment. James looked up; the owner of the voice was a young woman, her brunette hair tied back in a rather old-fashioned twist. Glancing around, he noticed he was the lone worker in the office at the time.

"Yes? How may I help you, miss?"

"I'd like to make copies of these documents," she replied, withdrawing papers the intricately sewn bag slung over her shoulder.

"Okay, then. It'll be five twenty-six – I'll have the copies ready for you in just a moment," James said, leafing through the papers, consisting of tax returns, bank statements, reference letters, and an employment verification letter for Mary Shepherd, working at a small business called Fitting Alterations. Deciding to fill the silence that hung in the air as he photocopied the pages, he asked, "So, looks like you're moving here, then?"

"Oh, yes," she answered with a soft smile, "Ashfield seems like a nice place, and I found a good job here. It's rather different from where I'm from, but I like it – it seems a lot more open."

"I see. I guess that's true – wouldn't know for sure, since I've lived here all of my life, but yeah, it is a pretty good place, isn't it?" James mused, taking the last copied sheet from the copier and handing them to her, "Well, here you are. I hope you'll find Ashfield pleasant, Ms. Shepherd."

Momentarily a bit startled by the stranger calling her by name, Mary recovered with a grin, stashing the copies away. "Thank you, Mr...?"

"James Sunderland. It's good to meet you." James extended his hand, which the young woman took and shook.

"Sunderland... You wouldn't happen to be related to a Frank Sunderland, would you?" she inquired.

"Yeah," James replied, brow furrowing fleetingly, "That'd be my father." Putting two and two together, he added, curious, "Are you moving into South Ashfield Heights?"

Mary nodded, laughing, "I am! I'm just about to go meet with your father to give him these so I can rent an apartment there! Odd, isn't it, how that worked out?" At the sound of her laughter, the shadows of unease vanished from James's eyes, replaced by a grin.

"Yeah, it is." When the laughter abated, he shifted his gaze to the floor, not knowing what else to say.

"I'd better get going. Thank you, Mr. Sunderland," Mary murmured after the moment of silence, "I hope we get to see each other again." With that, she left the office, a pair of eyes following her out the door.

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This's just a test-prologue-y thing; I seem to come up with plots more quickly than ways to execute them fully, though this one's easier to do. Just wanted to know if this is worth continuing. James and Mary were implied in-game to have had such a wonderful relationship before her illness, and I guess I felt sappy enough to try writing it. Future chapters will be longer.

I'm using MMY's timeline on Silent Hill Heaven Forums as a reference (every SH fanfic writer should take a look at it), so hopefully everything correlates well. It's set in 1985.


End file.
